Government to Strengthen Free-Visa Regulation

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian Directorate General of Immigration is to reduce the number of countries that are granted with free short-visit visas from 48 to only 12. Were paying attention to domestic progress, including the misuse of the free short-visit visas in Indonesia, said Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra at a press conference held after opening the 2003 Immigration Working Meeting in his office on Tuesday morning (21/01). Free short-visit visa were granted based on Presidential Decision no. 15/1983 on Policies to Develop Tourism, but some basic changes are to be found in the new draft Immigration bill. The granting of these free short-visit visas will be based on mutual benefits. The number of countries to be allowed this visa will be limited to only 12 countries from the previous 48 and the visas will now only be valid for a period of 30 days. According to Mahendra, the government is implementing these changes bearing in mind various factors, including security, state revenue and control over the number of foreign citizens in Indonesia. He added that recent global development has forced many countries to change their immigration regulations, and these will have an impact on Indonesian citizens. Mahendra cited South Korea which recently revoked its facility of free short-visit visas for Indonesian citizens. Well do the same to countries that do this, he stated. Mahendra said that Indonesian government has to take such measures as the increasing number of misused visas are likely to result in financial losses to the state. Misuse of visas could also threaten national integrity and cause political problems in Indonesia, he stated. Mahendra added that all this time, tourism businessmen have opposed the governments plan to restrict the free-visa granting, while the state has suffered huge losses due to the misused visas. (Faisal-Tempo News Room)